Castle of the Week 32 - Carrickfergus Castle

Carrickfergus Castle stands in a strategic
position on a rocky spur above the harbour on the northern shore
of Lough Belfast and is a perfectly preserved Norman castle,
probably the earliest stone castle in all Ireland. It is in the
small Northern Irish town of Carrickfergus, Co Antrim and the
name means 'rock of Fergus', Fergus being a king who was
shipwrecked and drowned there in the 6th century. Originally it
was almost completely surrounded by sea.

John de Courcy, the Anglo-Norman baron who conquered much of
Ulster and governed it from 1177 to 1204 started building the
castle in about 1178 to guard the approach to Lough Belfast. It
has three wards, the inner ward was the first and dates from this
time as does the remains of the great hall. The large square keep
which still dominates the castle was also started, incorporating
the well. A spiral staircase climbs all the way up the keep
although originally the keep's entrance was on the first floor
reached by an outside staircase. De Courcy was ousted by another
Norman, Hugh de Lacy in 1204.

King John captured the castle in 1210, expelling
de Lacy, and it became an administrative centre for the English
government which it remained for over seven centuries. The third
floor of the Keep was built during the second building phase
between 1216 and 1223 and became the Great Hall. The keep is 27.5
meters high and is about 17.5 meters square. The middle ward was
added with a square tower on the edge of the lough. A new curtain
wall was built to guard the approach along the rock and the
eastern approach over the sand when exposed at low tide. The
third building phase between 1226 & 1242 added the outer ward
with a twin round towered gatehouse and huge portcullis. The new
ward doubled the area of the castle and its curtain wall follows
the line of rock below. Hugh de Lacy recovered his Earldom of
Ulster in 1227 and lived at Carrickfergus until his death in
1242.

Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce of
Scotland, held all of Ulster in 1315 except for Carrickfergus.
Ships carrying food for the castle's defenders were scattered by
a storm, so he laid siege to the castle intending to starve the
garrison as he had no heavy siege engines. The position was
becoming desperate in the castle with the garrison reduced to
chewing hides and eating rats and an attempt to relieve the
castle from the sea was defeated. During a parley, the garrison
seized thirty of the Scots and put them in the dungeons. Legend
states that eight of these prisoners were killed and eaten by the
defenders. Finally after a year's siege, they surrendered in
September 1316. It was retaken by the English in 1318 and after
the Earldom of Ulster collapsed in 1333, it became the principal
administrative centre in the north.

In about 1560 alterations were made for artillery use with the
two round towers on the gatehouse being cut in half and lowered.

During the great rebellion of 1641 and the
English Civil War (1642-8) it was one of the main places of
refuge for protestants in Antrim and in 1642 it was taken over by
General Robert Munro for the Scots. In 1648 and 1649 control of
the castle changed three times, finally to General Monk on behalf
of Parliament after a three month siege. Monk held it until the
restoration of Charles II in 1660. In 1688 it was held by the
garrison troops for James II despite the townspeople's sympathy
for William III, but in 1689 the Duke of Schomberg besieged the
castle and bombarded it with heavy mortars. Seven days later the
garrison surrendered. William III landed at Carrickfergus in
1690, taking the castle in passing, on his way to fight the
Battle of the Boyne. However, it was already losing its
importance.

In 1760 it was captured by the French.
They looted the castle and town and then left, only to be caught
by the British Navy. In 1778 one of the first battles of the
American War of Independence took place on the Lough just by the
castle. John Paul Jones attacked a British navy ship and forced
her to strike her colours. In 1797 it became a prison and it was
heavily defended during the Napoleonic Wars. During the 1st World
War it was used as a garrison and ordnance store and during the
2nd World War as an air raid shelter.

It was garrisoned continuously for about 750 years until 1928
when its ownership was transferred to the Government for
preservation as an ancient monument and it is open to the public.
The banqueting hall has been fully restored and there are many
exhibits to show what life was like in medieval times.

Write-up provided by
GillB*
. Photos courtesy of Owen Brennan from Images of Ireland, a delightful site of
pictures, stories, recipes & verse from Ireland